Evangelion Oblivion Lost
by Namikaze
Summary: The city is a cold cruel place, shattered by Nuclear Fallout. Third Impact was avoided but at a cost of nearly half the world's population. Now, two years later, Asuka, struggles to survive in Tokyo-3, Zone 4. *UPDATE COMING SOON*
1. After the bombs fell

Disclaimer: I own neither Evangelion or Stalker - Oblivion Lost. They are both products of their respective creators, Gainax, and GSC.

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Synopsis: It is the year 2017. The Angels are completely gone, the fate of SEELE unknown. In the year 2015, the JSSDF, or the military of Japan, attacked the NERV complex underneath the ground, hoping to stop NERV from initiating Third Impact. What no one anticipated though, were the arrival of nine SEELE Evangelions, using dummy plugs. Upon their arrival, the Commander in Cheif of the JSSDF notified the government, who came to the conclusion that no single action is too much to stop Third Impact, and that nuclear weapons should be used immediately. In the fire that consumed Tokyo-3, nearly 40,000 people lost their lives, including 200 NERV employees, and 3,000 JSSDF soldiers. The world being tense as it was in the realm of international politics, the nuclear strike on Tokyo-3 was enough to light the spark that launched the worlds shortest war. World War 3. The entire thing lasted no longer than two hours, but in that time, every nuclear power in the world, launched their entire arsenal at targets they deemed necessary. Naturally the major power such as the United States, China, Russia, Germany, Japan and others were completely devestated.

Now, two years later, the children once charged with fighting off Angels, are now fighting for their very lives, in area's called "Zones" around the world. These Zones are places that have exhibited extraordinary unknown anomolies, including deviations in gravity, plant-life, and wild-life. Zone #4, Tokyo-3, is the place Asuka Langley Sohryu calls home, and has occupied herself by becoming a "Stalker". Someone who ventures into Zones, and recovers radioactive, or other abnormal artifacts to sell. Needless to say, its a dangerous job.

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Evangelion - Oblivion lost Chapter one - After the bombs fell

The land stretched out before her. Young in her years, decades old with wisdom of the world that used to be a cradle for Human civilization. An epic bid and struggle for power had led the Human race into a spiral of self-destruction that would never be rivaled again, because there was nothing to build upon. All was destroyed. Asuka Langley Sohryu had come to know lonliness for a long time, it had become her travel companion, not something to be feared or loathed, but accepted. At least that's what she told herself.

Trudging through an area of Tokyo-3 riddled with pockets of radiation, and gravitational anomolies, she was tossing bolts and screws in front of wherever she walked, hoping she wouldn't be so unfortunate to stumble upon a gravity well. A quick glance around what used to be the apartment building she called home, told her that there were numerous gravity wells strewn throughout the wreckage, metal support beams bending under their own weight, multiplied maybe even a hundred times.

Life in Tokyo-3 had become difficult. People no longer held eachother as brethren, but as enemies. If you were to spot anyone else in Tokyo-3 chances are if you let your guard down they would sooner slit your throat than nod in greeting. The girl, wearing military fatigues, combat boots, and kevlar vest emblazoned with a N.E.R.V. patch, sat down on a block of concrete seperated from a falling building long since settled, and brushed off the smaller chunks of rock, metal and glass. Taking care to keep her weapon, a simple semi-automatic .223 caliber rifle, resting across her legs while she sat back and drank heftily from her water bottle.

Her sigh carried on the wind, whispering of a paradise lost, of a time that she loathed when it was in its prime, but now wished for with all her might. She wished to see her friends again, most of whom parished in the nuclear fire that consumed the world, just before an event called Third Impact happened.

Third Impact, in a nutshell, would have ended the world for humans. In order to prevent this event from being precipitated, the Japanese Government decided to fire nuclear weapons upon its own soil, missiles hitting Tokyo-3, Kyoto-2, Osaka, and numerous other cities around the country where Evangelions were being expirimented with. Asuka was unconcious, and protected inside what was left of her Evangelion.

She remembered the terror, the pain when she awoke. Knowing she had been disconnected from her Evangelion, she no longer held a phychic link with the massive bio-mechanical behemoth, but her body was still badly damaged. Her arm was completely gone, the LCL assisting the natural course of decomposition, to remove her arm completely from her body from just above the elbow. Blood saturated the liquid that gave life to the Evangelion pilot.

Staring at the reddening sky, the former pilot's thoughts drifted back to where it all began. Back to when she thought she was going to die. In the battle she had fought that fateful day against SEELE's Evangelions, they had stabbed her with a copy of Lancea Longinus, the lance used to pierce Jesus Christ. Even so, the damage inflicted on her Evangelion, was imprinted onto her, her eye liquidating and mingling with the LCL around her. Her body was instantly ripped from its normal consciousness into a state of shock, and she screamed outload, unable to deal with the pain any other way, futily tugging at the controls of her Eva.

AT field shattered, senses overloaded with drugs that the Entry plug automatically injected into her to keep her conscious, and to dull the pain, she was having trouble making sense of things. Her vision became a hazy fog as SEELE's minions proceeded to rip her Evangelion apart, limb to limb, tossing her plug aside, where it sunk into the lake in the middle of the Geo-front.

Alarms sounded, and everything was covered in a red fog of blood and alarm lighting mixing in the LCL. The plug had warped, and twisted, the world was spinning. She looked at her hands covered in blood, and saw them slowly melting away, gathering in a pool of sinew, and tissue on the floor. Her nerve connection with the Eva had been completely severed. She knew what this meant but still could not figure out yet the effect it had on her. Without the connection being properly shutdown, extreme brain damage can be incured on the pilot. She couldn't move her legs. Panic overwhelmed her, as screams came over her communicator, screaming bloody murder. "Shockwave approaching!!.... static Whats going on?!... Unde.. Russia has... ICBM... fallou.. Tokyo-3 is completely dev..."

The transmissions continued until she had lost consciousness some ten minutes later. Asuka knew what was happening. She was glad that she seemed submerged, or covered by something. By the time she was drifting off, the communications network had gone silent, as did the plug, except for the loud rumbling she both heard and felt, no doubt from the nuclear weapon exploding, not a kilometer overhead on the surface...

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Halfway across the wasted city, another contemplation was taking place as well. As Shinji Ikari awoke, to greet the evening sky, he cursed, knowing today was going to be a bad day. Rather night, consider he had slept well over the time he was supposed to wake. He had shacked up in an apartment building, one of many hundreds around the city, but also one of the many fewer still standing, and hospitable. He was no fighter, by nature, so it did not take long after his escape from the radioactive hell of the NERV Geo-front to find companions he could band up with in the Zone.

Carrying with him small amounts of food and various provisions thought needed in a radioactive landscape, such as a geiger counter, and irradiation medication, he set out into what was left of Tokyo-3 two weeks after the attack, sheltering in the entrance to NERV Central which was built out of concrete, ideal for stopping Gamma rays. Wandering through the streets he was horrified by the things he saw. People, alive and dead were strewn about the city streets, and in the rubble that used to be skyscrapers and other commercial buildings, burned head to foot completely, mercilessly. Every now and then he would stop, and share his water with people who could no longer move on their own, too burnt, and too irradiated. As darkness fell, he had taken to side-streets, and less-traveled areas once he had noticed people in good health stealing from those wounded and dying.

Eventually, he came across a completely empty apartment building, about 5 miles away from NERV Central. He walked towards the building, a sense of foreboding coming across him. Shinji looked up, and noticed that all the windows on one side were shattered, and he hoped it wasn't the same on the other side. Entering into the lobby, he pushed the door aside and it easily fell off its already greatly damaged hinges. A pungent smell of blood and urine greated him upon his first step into the large room. A chandelier hung precariously from now only one of its hinges, hanging at an odd angle, ready to fall. Shinji made sure to step aside.

Walking to the service desk, he yelled out, "Hello! Anyone here?" hoping for some sort of answer. It came quickly. "FREEZE!!" A voice boomed out from behind him. Shinji didn't turn around, but held his hands up above him, feeling the slight bulge of the automatic pistol in his windbreaker. It did some measure to calm him, but nonetheless terror welled up in his throat. He gulped hard, forcing his fear down. "I just want a place to stay, no need to be alarmed I'm quite harmless."

Upon inspection, the man lowered his guard, asking Shinji things like, what was his name, where he came from and other information. In turn, Shinji learned that the man holding an automatic rifle, an M4a1, was named Hitachi, and he was with the Tokyo-3 Municipal Police. Upon the collapse of local and national government, he grabbed what he could from his precinct, like Shinji, and set out into the Zone.

Presently, Shinji was among people he had come to know as family. There was Maya Ibuki from NERV there, Hitoshi the Police officer, Misato Katsuragi, and a few others whose names he could not remember. They all stayed on the fifth floor of the building, levels above and below damaged to the point of being un-liveable. At night they would barricade the stairwells to keep themselves safe, and they would sleep in shifts, two people being on guard, with rifles at the top of the stairs throughout the night.

Tonight though, Shinji knew it was his turn to head out and find clean water. Though their supply hadn't run out, you can never have enough water, especially under Nuclear Fallout. Shinji leaned out of his balcony, observing the wreckage that stretched as far as the eye could see. A literal graveyard of civilization, the finest creations of man were laid out before him, gutted, and burnt.

A sigh escaped his lips, wishing things hadn't turned out the way they did. The way his friends had been killed, the way everything he had come to accept had been completely destroyed. The way... the way... the way his first love had been killed in front of his very eyes. He tried as hard as he could to remember her face, but couldn't. Even her name eluded him for a moment.

Two years had passed since the apocolypse, and many walks of life from that time were forgotten. Not because it had been a long time, but because it had been hard. Shinji was nearly at his wits end. He no longer had anything to live for. But...... Asuka... that was it. Yes that was her name. Asuka Langley Sohryu, second child, pilot of Evangelion Unit02, who fought bravely, effectively, and ferociously.

In Shinji's eyes she had won. He saw her destroy all but one of SEELE's Evangelions. That one had caught her off guard, it cheated. The distraught boy looked down over the rusted railing, a symbol of modern Japan, rusted and broken. Then something happened.

Something that caught his attention and provoked a response deep within his consciousness. The sun had crested below a group of clouds, sending beautiful rays of red and orange across the shattered city. Eyes squinted, Shinji looked down again, smiling, he proceeded to climb on top of the flat railing. The decision came without warning, almost so quickly that Shinji didn't even believe it was he who made it. "Forgive me Misato.." he whispered onto the wind, allowing it to carry his near-silent prayer to the heavens. He closed his eyes, and raised onto his toes, preparing to jump.

"Shinji? What are you doing?" The voice came as a shock, so much in fact that it made him fall. His voice rose in panic, as he fell backwards onto the balcony, narrowly missing a rusty, sharp metal chair. He thought to himself how much worse that would have been than jumping. "M..M..M..M..MISATO!! I was just admiring the view, you scared me!" Visibly shaking, he hoped the ploy would work, secretly knowing it wouldn't. Her face instantly drew itself into a frown. "Why don't you come inside. The view is just as good from there." She paused. "By the way, I'm going with you into the Zone. Hitoshi told me that water is becoming more and more harder to find so you and I will actually go towards the geo-front tonight. Hitoshi found us some lead plates he fitted into our kevlar, it isn't an anti-radiation suit but its better than nothing. Right now he's putting them into our camo so get your ass in gear and eat something before we go."

The surprise was evident on her younger companion's face, and he held back nothing in expressing it. "You said that I should never go there, that the last time you went you were sick for like two weeks, and had been exposed to like 200 rads." Her face twisted into a smile, one he knew well. "That's why we're bringing that stash of hotdogs!" All Shinji could manage was a sigh at the lame and inappropriate joke.

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-Tokyo-3, eastern sector, Industrial park A-

Asuka had been walking for a few hours now, heading inexorably towards NERV central, hoping to find something of value this time. Her last few excursions into the Zone had taken much of her supplies and much of her mental well-being to make it in and out unscathed. Last time Asuka went into the Central zone, she was attacked by wolves, though they weren't anything like what they were before the war. Some had grown to nearly twice their size, ranging anywhere from the size of a house cat, to a full grown Bull. She knew the dangers they presented, able to rip her in half with one bite. She barely escaped in her last encounter.

Excited to go back, she was not. Pulling the visor down from her helmet as she saw the sky in the east start to glow, she broke into a run towards the edge of the Zone, trying to get as far away from the epicenter before this week's "Blowout". If you know what the blowout is, it is something to be feared, and fear was the driving force for her sprint over dead bodies, and strewn debris covering roads and sidewalks everywhere. The roar was slowly building in her ears and for once she thought she might not make it.

She knew it was foolish to head into the Zone this late on a wednesday, but she had heard a rumor of a particularly sought-after artifact in her vicinity. Now it may cost her her life. The visor was shielding her eyes from the constant glow growing in intensity, and moving fast towards the Zone. She had to pass underneath that cloud of death.

Ducking into a building she knew to have a basement, since she had traveled this way before, she jumped into the ruined building, walls only about 2 feet high, enough for her to jump and clear them. Sweat pouring over her body, panting hard mostly from fear rather than fatigue, she nearly jumped completely over the stairs leading down into the black basement. Without skipping a beat she went to the corner of the room, and using all her might she grabbed a large sheet of Steel she had stashed here. It was about five inches thick, thick and heavy enough to stop much radiation.

Leaning it against the concrete wall she dropped her rifle, and made herself as small, and as tight as possible in her quickly constructed steel lean-to. Then it happened. Even in the basement, the room lit up as if in daylight. The roar was deafening as radioactivity burst into the sky. Asuka shut her eyes against the light and silently recited Hail Mary.

Around the city, mostly in the Zone, those unfortunate enough to be caught in the blowout fell to the ground, clutching their bleeding eyes and ears simultaneously throwing up liters of blood, as over 5,000 rads of Gamma rays coursed through their body, instantly liquifying their vital organs, and causing severe Nervous System damage. Most were dead instantly, the unlucky ones survived for about five minutes.

Nodding with a grim sense of knowledge, Asuka knew tommorrow would be busy, as she searched the Zone for the bodies. The dead couldn't defend their belongings, and the first one to a dead person claimed them.

Yes... tommorrow would be a good day.

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A/N: Phew! This story didn't take too long but I hope it came out well. Im sure any post-apocolyptic fans, or wanna-be scientists will notice that I took great liberties in the reality of Nuclear Fallout. This was done on purpose, I did actually spent a few weeks surfing the web looking for information on the effects of Radiation and other related subjects including techniques to counter-act R-Sickness. So before you tell me "Blowouts" don't really happen, or that complete physical mutation wont occur in animals within 2 years if at all. I already know. I had to balance the Character's ages, and the setting. Now.. some clarification:

Zones: Area's where the nukes fell, basically "Ground Zero". Many unexplainable phenomenon occur here.

Stalkers: People who venture into Zones to recover artifacts, or other trinkets to sell in small communities outside the Zones.

Blowout: Happens once a week in the Tokyo-3 Zone (#5). Sky lights up very bright, unsheltered organisms experience extremely high, 90 fatal doses of radiation.

Rads: Units to measure exposure to radioactive materials. 50-100 rads makes a person sick, but 99 non-fatal. 300-400 50 fatality after 30 days. 600-100 100 fatality after 14 days without intense medical care. Never recover. 1000-5000 100 fatality after 7 days. Only treatment is pain therapy. 5000 rads Immediate disorientation within seconds, death immediate, or around an hour or two.

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Next Chapter: First Blood

The sky had lost its sickening red hue the following morning. The two Stalkers, Misato and Shinji, walked cautiously throughout the wreckage, looking for any bodies to salvage after yesterdays blowout. Catching sight of one Shinji called to Misato and she came running. Looking down on the body, it had definately died yesterday as blood was still pooring out of the girls mouth, down her cheek slowly gathering into a small pool underneath her head. Shinji knew her as Yumi Xiang, a classmate he had spent his time in the Tokyo-3 school system with. Sensing the shock in the boy, Misato told him to investiate a building adjacent to their position, about twenty feet away. He obeyed, with sorrow in his eyes. Misato simply donned plastic gloves pulled out of a pouch on her belt, and turned the dead girl's head to the side, ripping an earing out of her right ear.

Shortly Misato had gathered what she could, anything they could keep without getting radiation poisoning themselves. No food, just money, or anything else of value. The woman looked down on the child, knowing she was someone's daughter, feeling a pang of sadness for them. She laid a poncho on top of the girl, lowered her head for about five seconds, then made a motion over her head and chest resembling a cross. Her reverie was interupted by a loud howl, almost inhuman, but Misato had heard it before. Shinji's head popped out of a second story window. "MISATO!! RAIDERS!!!!!"

The boy's guardian turned completely white, motioned the boy down from his perch, and clutched her AK-47 close to her chest.


	2. First Blood

Disclaimer: I own neither Evangelion or Stalker - Oblivion Lost. They are both products of their respective creators, Gainax, and GSC.

Evangelion - Oblivion Lost Chapter two - First Blood

-Dedicated to the 'Fallout' series, and 'Stalker - Oblivion Lost'

A/N: Before you delve into the gruesome chapter of doom... first a warning. I didn't give this fic an 'R' rating due to the small amount of violence. This is just one of those chapter's where violence is wholly necessary to the development of the plot. Fair warning: It isn't pretty. If offended by violent works, please do not read.

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Asuka was no stranger to the sight of blood. Being an Evangelion Pilot means you see a lot of your own. This time was different though. Instead of her blood, it was someone else's that was spattered across her face, neck, and chest. She had never killed anyone before, and the sight was tearing her apart.

It all happened in the blink of an eye, as situations involving one's survival usually happened. The Second Child's inquisitive instinct told her to take a look into a house she had passed earlier. When she had passed nearly two hours ago, she had left a backpack with five .223 sized magazines, so that she could find her way and also to lighten the already hefty load of goods on her back.

Walking down the distraught road, trained eyes scanning her surroundings, she immediately noticed the backpack missing. Her brow furrowed in confusion. Had she stashed it someplace else? Was she just forgetting? No, the young prodigy decided, she wasn't mistaken. Someone had taken the backpack, and upon closer inspection of the partially collapsed house, a flickering incandescent light could be seen coming from a window on the south side, the side closest to her.

Without missing a beat she began moving towards the house in a guarded crouch, while she cycled the bolt of her rifle, jamming a round into the chamber. 'Ok.. Ok... just like Misato showed you... keep low, weapon up, finger off the trigger. Piece of cake.' She mused silently to herself, trying in vain to keep herself calm. Upon approaching the doorway, she dropped to a knee, and shuffled to the edge of the doorframe. The entrance was wide open, the door absent. Quieting her heartbeat took a few seconds, and she listened intently as a foreign voice was speaking out.

It didn't take long to notice that the man was talking to himself, making a mental note that he was probably unstable, she clicked out her magazine and observed through the feed chamber, a full clip. Using proper military doctrine, she brought herself to a standing position, and braced herself to pop out from behind her temporary cover, in order to get a good field of fire into the entrance way.

Turning towards the wall, she leaned her upper body around the corner, and sighting along her weapons iron sights, determined the room was clear. The light was flickering through a door to the right, just down a hallway, where she assumed the man was.

Keeping the stock of her rifle firm against her shoulder, she creeped towards the doorway, legs bent, breathing a little erratic but in check. Just as she was about to burst through the doorway into the room of death, she slipped on something, and fell onto her back.

There was indeed a man in the center of the room. A large man, standing next to a fire burning within a rusted out metal bin. He was wearing a blue wind breaker, and urban camoflauge pants. His red bandana fluttered as his head whipped to the side, attempting to see what disturbed his reverie. He was surprised to see a young girl, sliding down towards the ground at an incredible rate. She had fallen.

Shock registered first. He hesitated. It was ironic that Asuka had panicked when she fell, something above all she was trying to avoid. Panic, is a soldiers worst enemy she would repeat to herself, but it helped her this time. As the man's hand darted towards a theigh holster, containing a wicked looking gun, the icy grip of fear brought her finger to the trigger, adrenaline allowing her to squeeze off about eight rounds, before the man even hit the floor.

Most of the rounds thudded into his chest, two went right into and out the back of his neck. A muffled, and wet rasping gasp escaped him as he sank to the floor. Blood was pouring out of the man's neck and chest, he struggled to stop the flow of life coming out of him, but it simply spurted through his bloody fingers. His clear green eyes, met her ocean blue, and she suddenly was overcome with grief. Something had passed between the two as she saw this man's life slipping away. Bringing herself to her full height, training her gun on the man still gasping for breath, she inched her way closer. "Don't move." She said in a low voice to show she meant business. She leaned over his body, and noticed he had a cross in his hands, and was praying quietly to himself. 'Be strong' She crouched down, and unholstered the man's sidearm. Quite a trinket indeed. The Glock-18c was capable of firing off an 18 round clip in about one second.

Attempting to ignore the man's pleas to god, she continued her work, looking for a wallet, some form of identification, any food, anything she could use or sell. By now the man was silent, peaceful, betraying the cold blooded murder that had just taken place. 'There was nothing I could do. He was reaching for his gun. I had to fire.' Inner turmoil paralyzed her beside her victim. Looking at the body made her suddenly sick, and so she dropped her rifle, and darted towards the south window, emptying her stomach into the night air.

Moans forced their way up her throat, letting the world know her remorse. Her knees buckled under her weight, and she sank to the ground. Nauseated, a pang of fear crept through her when she noticed that there was an unusual amount of heat coming from the fire. She crawled towards the door, no longer possessing the strength to stand. Glock in hand, she crept out the doorway, and instantly reached for her geiger counter, which she hadnt noticed clicking furiously. "300 rads... shit." she managed to say, before passing out completely.

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While the events occuring halfway across the city were unfolding, down below the city, another young lady, the same age as Asuka was in a struggle of her own. When her companions decided to leave NERV Central, she had the choice to go or stay. She chose to stay. Still, no one knows why she did decide to stay, but it was known that no one had ever seen her for two years. She knew this. Unable to know why she knew this was still a mystery. Maybe over-exposure to high dosages of Radiation had evolved... or mutated her brain.. or something.

She never ventured far out of Central Dogma. The radiation provided a nice warm "glow" to things. It felt comfortable and she wasn't prepared to leave the comfort of her home until absolutely necessary. Thinking of home brought her thoughts back two years ago, before she had evolved to the superior being that she was now. Memories of praise, and being called the archangel tantalized her. Her name was long forgotten. The Humans still stuck inside Central Dogma, had mutated so much as to be barely recognizable as Human. The ruler of this lair, had learned to control them, somehow by just thinking of them, and then thinking of things for them to do. She held some sort of phychic link with them.

There were many things about herself she didn't understand, but today was the day to end that. Filtering through the thoughts of the healthy humans above ground, she decided it was time to make herself known above in the "Zone" as she learned it was called. Her clothing hung lazily from her thin feminine body, and she took on the appearance of a Queen, rising from her throne. She called to her recollection the thoughts of a human mind that never ceased to amaze her with its contemplation of existance, and purpose, Shinji she thought the name was. She found this name eternally familiar, and it called to her.

Bringing a ghostly white hand to her face, she brushed away a blue strand of hair falling into her vision, while walking slowly towards the massive stairwell that served as the emergency exit from the Geo-front in case of power failure. One or two of her minions started to follow her, but she warded them off with a casual gesture of hand, the signal was clear.

Agitated due to the blowout, and the influx of radiation she experienced because of it, she just wanted to be alone. 'How odd these emotions are, I hope I get used to them soon' Her thoughts wandered during the long climb towards the surface. The whole place was in disrepair, there was no way to fix it without an army of industrial engineers. Some stairs were missing, bidding the careless to step down to a gruesome fate, most likely only breaking both legs, but keeping the idiot alive, bleeding, helpless, for her children to consume.

When she reached the top of the stairwell, her crimson eyes fully dilated upon glancing out into the night. Even though it was dark out, she wasn't a normal human, and wasn't prepared for such brightness, having lived underground for two years. It was cold. She wasn't used to the cold. It wasn't pleasant. It made her itch for warmth. She decided it WAS too cold out here, and she closed her eyes, raising her head to the sky. From afar, one could see the two brightly glowing ethereal wings spread out from the youth, and stretch out to the sky. Off towards the east, the sky began to glow red...

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An alarm woke Shinji from a deep sleep. He was pissed off to say the least. Glancing at his watch, miraculously still working, reading 2am, he cursed his bad luck. Misato burst through the open doorway, into his ragtag room consisting of 10 square feet of space, a crappy, dirty mattress in the corner, his Zone gear, and various useless trinkets. A woman with a purpose was not one to be trifled with, and as Shinji covered his face with a pillow to drown out Misato's yelling, he found out the hard way. She ran to his bed, and unceremoniously flipped the entire mattress over. "SHINJI!! BLOWOUT!! GET IN THE BASEMENT NOW!!" She roared, while pulling him out of his pile of pillows and blankets, ignoring his obvious resistance.

Reading the alarm in Misato's face, Shinji quickly snapped into action and ran out into the fifth floor hallway, towards the staircase. He could see the red glow filtering through the windows of the multitude of apartments on that floor, and knew they did not have much time. The air seemed to cool with each quickened step he took, a calm before the storm he told himself. He nearly slipped running over a pile of crushed concrete, which served to remove the footing of anyone passing over it. When he slipped though, he fought to regain his balance, and subsequently leaned his weight against the wall, and hit his head on a windowsill. He wasn't hurt though, and using the window sill to steady himself, straightened his body to a standing position.

His head was now above the windowsill, enabling him to look over Tokyo-3. A sound, like a scream brought his attention to a small building, and gunfire erupted from across the street, illumination flooding out the building's windows. Fascinated by the sight, he kept watching, and someone stuck their head out the window towards the street, and vomited. He put two and two together pretty quickly. "MISATO!! There's someone alive down in the building across the street! We have to help them." As she ran into the staircase, Misato jumped over to the window, and called down to the figure hanging outside the window-sill. "Hey! You! Get in here!" Not waiting for a response, Shinji dashed down the stairs towards the basement, where Hitoshi and Maya waited, guarding the precious lead armor.

Misato called after Shinji, "Shinji wait! You won't make it the blowout is not even three minutes away!" 'That little shit' she cursed the boy in her charge, and barreled down the stairs clumsily after him.

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By the time she had reached the basement, about two minutes later, Shinji was zipping up the excruciatingly heavy lead suit they used to venture into the center of Zone 4. The boy looked up as Misato entered the room, and gave her a nervous smile. "Always was a sucker for heroics Misato." She smiled back, "Your wasting time, get out there, I'll hold the barrier open for you 'till you get back.". Timidly, Shinji looked to the ground. "Thanks.." Misato was too impatient for sentiment though, and shoved him up the basement stairs into the lobby. "Go now you don't have much time, if you can't carry him, leave him and come back." He nodded, and sprinted out into the crimson lit street.

Not stopping to look at anything around him, Shinji's entire concentration was on the small building, and the person he saw feint, or at least thats what it looked like from fifty feet above ground. The air had become deathly cold, he could feel it in his unguarded hands. He shrugged it off, pretending that he was running a drill, or Misato was testing him like old times. 'If only we could reach unit01...' Wishes filtered longingly into his mind.

When he reached the downed figure across the street, he hooked his arms under his own, and lifted him onto his shoulders. The air, had begun to ripple, as if immense heat were coursing through it. The two didn't have much time. He tried to quicken his pace, the burden on his shoulders pulling him down. After what seemed like an eternity, he had just ran through the lobby doors, as Hitoshi and Misato jumped behind him and pushed two slabs of concrete into the doorway, just as a blinding red light penetrated through the small cracks between those slabs and the door frame.

Heat instantly ripped throughout their bodies as they ran as fast as their legs would carry them towards the basement stairs. Luckily, before the radiation threatened to completely ingulf all four people in the lobby, they made it to the stairwell, and using all their collective might, slid a gigantic sheet of steel about three feet thick into the stairwell doorway, effectively sealing gamma rays out of the concrete protected basement.

Sweat pouring down his face, Shinji dumped his load unceremoniously, and angrily onto a long operating table that had been salvaged. Misato walked over, panting, and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Why don't you go take a breather, take that shit off and cool down." She smiled assuredly at him, waiting and watching as he stood, breathing heavily for about another minute and then stalked off to the corner of the room where he proceeded to peel off the layers of protective clothing he wore. Examining his important find, Misato ran a geiger counter over the body brought inside. Upon reading a level of 188 rads, she decided to begin removing "his" clothing, getting ready to treat radiation poisoning.

When her hands went to his Kevlar vest's clips however, her breath caught in her throat when she saw the emblazoned NERV symbol on the right breast of the vest. Running a hand over it out of disbelief, she saw the familiar logo and writing that she knew all too well. "God's in his heaven, All is right with the world." Misato gulped and took off the clips binding the vest's two halves together, and slid it out from underneath the body. Glancing at the body's face, she wanted to see who this NERV soldier was, and reached for a plastic clip underneath the chin to release its helmet and visor.

She froze suddenly though, as the barrel of a gun was pressed to the center of her chest, just above her heart. "Don't move" the decidedly feminine voice said. Noticing Misato's obvious look of distress, Hitoshi, gun in hand walked over to where she was standing, and quickly brought his rifle to his shoulder, training it on their guest. "Drop the gun!" He roared with a voice practiced in the ways of intimidation. The girl's face turned to the side to glance at her new assailant, and she said "Back away, or I'll shoot five rounds into her chest before you can even touch your trigger." He obeyed, and stepped back towards the wall, all the while keeping his sights trained on this cunning young girl.

The human shield that was Misato spoke in a low, but warm tone. "We're both from NERV, there is no need to fight. What's your name?" Misato smiled at the girl, knowing that her mind was already pretty fuzzy from radiation, and that she wasn't comprehending much around her, and probably couldn't even recognize Misato's face. The girl stiffened visibly, something bringing her discomfort. "I'm your worst nightmare. Go to hell."

Misato's face darkened, and she backed away a step, the smile gone from her lips. The girl on the table, sat up, and swung her legs to the floor, booted feet making a thud against the cool concrete floor. Glock-in-hand, she walked slowly towards the doorway. Throughout this entire exchange, Shinji was backed against the wall, shock evident in his every feature. He knew the voice, but just couldn't believe he was hearing correctly. He was certain she had died two years ago, on the day that started it all. Yet here she was, right in front of him, and about to leave his life again. For the time being though, there was nothing he could do. His legs just wouldn't obey him.

The soldier smiled, and kept moving towards the steel barrier in front of the stairs. She motioned with her gun towards Shinji, up against the wall. "You, get this thing open for me or you can pick up peices of your mom and dad here." Hitoshi yelled, already taken as much stress as he could, "We're not of relation. If you want to get out of here, you're going to have to drop your weapon." While Asuka looked at him, Shinji reached to the floor for his own weapon. She suddenly turned, sensing the movement. Seeing his hands close about the grip of an automatic rifle, Asuka whipped her own weapon to bear, and pulled the trigger, sending a volley of 6 rounds towards Shinji. Two of the six actually hit their target, and when they did Shinji was flung against the wall as his fingers closed about the trigger, sending bullets flying as he fell against the wall, lifeless. Hitoshi dove to the ground, and not looking pushed his gun in the direction of the soldier, and opened up.

Four automatic weapons were now firing wildly around the basement, dust and debris filled the air, as cement turned to powder following the impact of high velocity rounds. Misato had taken refuge behind a dumpster they used to store ammunition, it blocked herself from where Asuka was hiding, which was all she needed. Her hand was reaching over the top of the dumpster, firing her MP5k fully automatic towards Asuka. She couldn't see where she was firing, but bullets were hitting her cover so she didn't want to lean out and check. She looked to the left, to where Hitoshi was hiding behind an empty steel chemical bin. She watched, as he stood up, brought his rifle to bear, stood for about two seconds, taking careful aim down to the other side of the basement. Just when she saw him tense up to fire, Misato cried out as his back exploded in a cloud of red, mutiple bullet wounds ripping into and out his body. He fell onto his back, weapon firing into the ceiling until empty.

Then, silence. Smoke and the smell of blood was heavy in the air. Misato peeked around the corner, and watched the young girl pulling with all her might to move the steel slab in the doorway, she was making little progress, but a few more seconds and she would have it open. Misato brought her weapon to bear, and yelled out a taunt. "You're not getting out of here alive you little SHIT!!" The girl turned, and seeing Misato aiming around the side of the dumpster, she dropped to a knee, and bracing her right arm against her left, she fired her entire clip at the dumpster, while pushing against the block. Misato cursed, and ducked back behind cover. When the firing stopped, she dove out from cover, and righting herself onto a knee, pulled the trigger once the girl was in the center of her sights. click Was all the came out when she noticed her clip was completely gone.

The girl laughed, and tossed her empty glock aside back into the basement, pulling a smaller semi-automatic sidearm out of her boot and firing it at Misato, aiming to keep her down but not to hit her. She ran up the stairs, firing down into the basement to be sure she wasn't followed, and she was gone.

As quickly as it started, it had ended, and Misato jumped up from her cover to check on Hitoshi. His body was spasming, and she heard his gurgling gasps, as his body fought to breath in something other than blood. When she knelt beside his body, slipping her hand into his, Hitoshi's terrified eyes met her own. There was nothing she could do, both of them knew that. So Misato made sure to have Hitoshi spend his last few minutes alive next to her. She stroked his forehead, and bid him farewell, as his convulsions became fewer, and weaker, until his body had stopped completely.

Sorrow flooded into her, and she heard a cough behind her, realizing Shinji had gone down. She jumped up, sorrow temporarily forgotten. Shinji was on his hands and knee's, coughing up blood. There was a stream of blood coming out of his mouth, creating a puddle underneath. "Shinji!" She yelled, and ran over to him, pulling him back onto her lap when she knelt beside him. He coughed again, but was talking. "Misato, I'm cough I'm ok, I had my vest on." Misato glanced down, and saw the black Kevlar sprawled over his chest. She closed her eyes, and prayed to whatever god there was, giving thanks.

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Rest would not come easily for Misato, and when she "woke up" that morning she had been awake for more than 48 hours. The night was a busy one, as she gave Shinji a once over to make sure he wasn't seriously injured, and then burying Hitoshi had added over four hours, to an already late night. She walked into Shinji's room drearily, waking him up.

The sky had lost its sickening red hue the following morning. The two Stalkers, Misato and Shinji, walked cautiously throughout the wreckage, looking for any bodies to salvage after yesterdays blowout. Catching sight of one Shinji called to Misato and she came running. Looking down on the body, it had definately died yesterday as blood was still pooring out of the girls mouth, down her cheek slowly gathering into a small pool underneath her head. Shinji knew her as Yumi Xiang, a classmate he had spent his time in the Tokyo-3 school system with. Sensing the shock in the boy, Misato told him to investiate a building adjacent to their position, about twenty feet away. He obeyed, with sorrow in his eyes. Misato simply donned plastic gloves pulled out of a pouch on her belt, and turned the dead girl's head to the side, ripping an earing out of her right ear.

Shortly Misato had gathered what she could, anything they could keep without getting radiation poisoning themselves. No food, just money, or anything else of value. The woman looked down on the child, knowing she was someone's daughter, feeling a pang of sadness for them. She laid a poncho on top of the girl, lowered her head for about five seconds, then made a motion over her head and chest resembling a cross. Her reverie was interupted by a loud howl, almost inhuman, but Misato had heard it before. Shinji's head popped out of a second story window. "MISATO!! RAIDERS!!!!!"

The boy's guardian turned completely white, motioned the boy down from his perch, and clutched her AK-47 close to her chest. She had yet to actually tangle with a Raider, but she had heard the stories. A society casting itself back into the past, the Raiders were ruthless and brutal, preferring to use melee weapons over firearms because of their lust for blood. Indescriminate, they attacked communities at will, killing women and children along with men. A few towns had made treaties to stem the flow of death, only to learn that their attack was only delayed.

Misato knew that they must have detected Shinji and herself with organism detectors. They had little time. She put a hand on Shinji's shoulder, tightening his loose Kevlar. "Better be ready incase we have to fight." The woman walked casually back towards their home, knowing that running would only increase their body heat, and make them more easily detected by the Raiders.

When their building came in sight, Misato dove behind an outcropping of debris that jutted out into the street, and she pulled Shinji down with her. She watched, as a group of about eight Raiders picked a girl with red hair up off of the ground, load her onto a stretcher, and carry her away. Without looking, she could sense Shinji's pleading eyes, those eyes he used when he saw a 'damsel in distress'. His voice rised in surprise, "That.. That looks like Asuka!" She frowned strongly, and looked over to him, but once she made eye contact, she couldn't resist. Misato sighed wearily. "Ok... we'll check it out... let me get Maya on the radio, maybe she can get a few mercs to help us out."

The sun was rising over the desolate landscape, a new day was beginning, in the Zone.

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Special thanks to all reviewers!

A/N: Another chapter done. Its funny, this is the first story I could actually write more than one chapter without losing interest. If you didn't like this chapter because of its focus on guns, blood, and stuff like that, well, fear not! For the next few chapters will contain far less violence, and much more greatness. The focus will be more about the life of a Stalker, and in the next chapter I plan on having at least one of them leave the zone in order to sell their wares in one of Tokyo-3's numerous communities. And to all you Vault-dwellers out there... keep the Nuka-cola handy!

Namikaze September 30, 2004

FAQ #1:

Radiation Information: Rads are a term used to measure the amount of irradiated particles entering the body. As most people know, Radiation is extremely dangerous when exposed to the Human body. It interferes with the Immune system, the Digestive system, and affects human sexual organs, rendering most people at extended high dosages, sterile. A reviewer, last chapter asked about radiation doses, and its effect on the Human body, so here is a small excerpt from detailing 300 rad dosage:

**200 - 300 rad** (2 - 3 Sv) _Severe radiation poisoning, 35 fatality after 30 days (LD 35/30)_. Nausea is common (100 percent at 300 rad), with 50 percent risk of vomiting at 280 rad. Symptoms onset at 1 to 6 hours after irridation and last for 1 to 2 days. After that, there is a 7 to 14 day anastasis, after which the following symptoms appear: loss of hair all over the body (50 percent probability at 300 rad), fatigue and general illness. There is a massive loss of leukolytes, greatly increasing the risk of infection. Permanent female sterility is possible. Convalescence takes one to several months.


	3. Enclave

Disclaimer: I own neither Evangelion or Stalker - Oblivion Lost. They are both products of their respective creators, Gainax, and GSC. 

-Dedicated to 'Neon Genesis Evangelion', the 'Fallout' series, and 'Stalker - Oblivion Lost'

SORRY SORRY SORRY for not updating!!! Don't kill me!!

WARNING - OOC!!!!

Evangelion - Oblivion Lost Chapter three - Enclave

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Memories flooded back, despite the barrier she tried to create in her mind, attempting to stem the flow of her bitter, painful past. The girl lay alone in utter darkness, not a single object could be seen. The Slavers called it the lock-up. It was a room that they put their victims in, to hopefully break their resolve. Asuka Langley Sohryu was one such victim, though she knew not what lie ahead. Stories, rumors, were all that she had heard about the Slaver-Raider Alliance, and none of them were pleasant.

The one that frightened her the most were the ones not many dare speak about. When the Slavers first appeared, they had taken, by force, a devestated but still slightly functional US Naval base in Osaka. For a year and a half they transformed the base into an actual fortress, complete with a full sized "Keep" they had built themselves, by hand from the rubble of destroyed buildings around Osaka. Deep within the subterrainean complex beneath the base, which she assumed she was located now, they found a substance called, Quinuclidinyl Benzillate, or BZ. As soon as Asuka's mind played with the possibility of this being administered to her, she broke into a cold sweat, and fear paralyzed her breathing.

Abruptly, the room filled with light, though there was no source of the light. It seemed to be permeating through the concrete walls supporting her prison. Realization came quickly that she was in the full grip of BZ, and soon her vision began to distort. Panic took over, when she realized she was completely paralyzed, and could not move. Her mouth opened, and she tried to cry out for help, what came out however, sounded more like a whimper than anything else. Apparitions appeared suddenly, things a young Asuka had tried hard to cast out of her life were coming back to her as the hallucinogenic took full control of it's host.

Her mother, was before her. Her white hospital gown was covered in blood, red, the color of Asuka's hair, and a color that signified more than words could explain. The blood flowed down her legs, creating a puddle on the floor. Trying to make sense of the blur of shapes that was her vision, the teenage girl saw her mother hanging from the ceiling, a grotesque smile of utter bliss plastered on Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu's lifeless face. Asuka slammed her eyes shut, drawing blood from her tongue when her jaw clamped down in terror from what she saw.

What was worse, were the images of the boy Asuka had been seeking out for the past two years. His very name brought pain to her heart, and at times because of her mistakes she wished to die. If only Shinji knew the sway he held over her. Then again, he probably never would, because even as she realized, and acknowledged the desire she felt for him, just as quickly she dismissed it as a side-effect of BZ, and assumed that a young woman of her caliber could never be attracted to a boy like Shinji Ikari.

Something on her stomach caught her attention, some kind of... pressure. Using all her strength, it took her nearly a minute to move her head down, and to make sense of what she saw amid the flashing light, and floating shapes. On her abdomen, a swarm of tarrantula's were crawling up her body, towards her head, and at that moment, she could no longer tell herself it was all in her mind. Too real to be fake, to scared to think otherwise, she endured the experience in what could best be described as hours, on top of hours, of catatonic dispair. The second child raised her head from the floor, and screamed at the ceiling, screamed forever, screamed out all her pain, sorrow, loneliness, terror, anger, hatred, and love. A door appeared, she couldn't tell what wall it came from but... there was a door... somewhere. The door opened, and a blinding light came through, smiting all the terrible things around her, and through that door, stepped... her mother.

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They had walked for nearly nine hours straight, through the wreckage of Tokyo-3 towards the edge of the zone, out away from the city towards a struggling military community on the outskirts of the sprawling metropolis. Misato and Shinji had decided that they needed some help, and knew that the best place to get it was the nearest hive of degredation, which was nearly every city in Japan.

Tinkering with the pockets on her vest, she checked a bag on the side of her utility belt to be sure her bottle caps were still there. Since the collapse of international trade, locals had taken to using other forms of currency, including the yen. While the Yen was still accepted, most traders accepted trinkets, and small things like soda can tabs, and bottle caps, the precious metal useful when trading with para-military forces. Misato, the leader of her little group, had taken both, a bag full of soda tabs, and a wallet full of Yen.

The two walked on in silence, having run out of things to say to eachother in the two years they had survived Hell on Earth. Misato, in her early thirty's, was basically Shinji's mother, and though they would never say I love you to eachother face to face, it was understood between them that they valued eachother above themselves. For Misato, she was relieved. The young woman had lost a good friend the other day, but she hadn't lost her "son", and that's what mattered the most to her above all else. Dealing with Hitoshi's death was terrible, but dealing with Shinji's would be unbearable. Presently, she decided that a rest was due, when she felt the burn in her legs beginning to reach unbearable proportions.

Adjusting the lense flare visor on her NERV combat helmet, she snapped her fingers to grab Shinji's attention, about twenty meters ahead. Hearing the familiar sound, he dropped to a knee, glancing around quickly, and then turning his head to listen to what Misato had to say. "Shinji, lets take a breather in that gas station over there." She motioned with her AK-47 to a rusted, and desolate ruin of a gas station off to the side of the road they were traveling on. The armed boy, looking like a futuristic warrior from a sci-fi movie, nodded a nod barely perceptible beneath the layers of polymer Kevlar armor he was wearing. Keeping his body slightly bent down to make himself as hard a target as possible out of habbit, he proceeded in a half crouch to the gas station, preparing to secure it.

Misato followed suit, taking a different direction and training her weapon through a window, covering Shinji's entrance into the unknown. When through the window, Misato saw him move his fist up and down twice, she knew it was clear, and also that the next rest stop was her responsibility to secure. Her thoughts moved to the Zone again, and annoyance took precedence when she thought how dangerous this god-forsaken place was. What a place to raise children.

Conversation was sparse, as it always was during travel through the Zone. Her feet made scuffing sounds when she didn't make the effort to lift her weary legs off the ground, and Shinji looked at her concernedly. She dismissed him with a wave, and indicated she was fine. "I'm going to go take a nap in that room over there ok?" The boy looked up to her face, dirt smeared across his face where it wasn't covered by his helmet. "Alright, are you sure you're ok Misato?" His guardian smiled weakly, an ill-fated attempt at reassuring Shinji. "I'm fine, just a little bit tired that's all. Watch the door, and wake me up if anyone comes along that road." He nodded, and turned towards the open doorway facing the highway.

Satisfied, Misato took off into the building's storage room, and taking off her boots she sighed her way to the ground. She lay looking at the ceiling, watching the orange patterns from the fading sun dance across the dirty white paint, waiting for sleep to come. Eventually, when her mind idles, it wanders off to thought patterns she never really liked. Hitoshi... The man had been a godsend, a replacement for Kaji, or at least that's what she told herself knowing there never really could be a replacement.

Then there was that girl. The girl who had nearly, single-handedly killed two NERV soldiers, succesfully ending the life of a Tokyo-3 Municipal police officer, all of whom were extremely proficient in the occupation they now pursued. The scars on her arms and legs obviously branded her as a Stalker, and a young one at that. The slight shaking she exhibited was enough to tell Misato she wasn't experienced in killing, and that she was afraid. What really intrigued Misato however, was the young girl's voice. That voice... She couldn't quite place it but she knew it was familiar.

All of a sudden though, it hit her. So shocking was the realization that she audibly gasped. Asuka. It had to have been her, because there was no other way any normal person would carry such an air of pride, indifference, and authority like Asuka. She's alive!! A smile crossed her lips, and a tear rolled down her cheek. She did not acknowledge the fact that she had killed Hitoshi...

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The column moved forward at a decent pace, but for Special Agent Frank Horrigan, it was not nearly enough. Speaking into his communicator, which consisted of two sensors attached to his throat that caught the vibration of his larynx, he quietly urged the group on. "Come on men, lets pick up the pace, we'll encounter resistance quite soon as we approach NERV Central." A staccato of acknowledgement rang in his ears as "The Enclave's" platoon leaders replied to his orders positively. Standing on the edge of a three story building, he watched, as the American soldier's clad in Power Armor proceeded to sift through wreckage, and exterminated any living thing they found. The military commander, abnormally large standing at about ten feet tall, frowned behind his helmet and mask, contemplating the extermination of the "contaminated".

He smiled, and as he watched his soldiers in their march, when a young Japanese girl jumped up from a matress she was apparantly sleeping on nearly fourty meters down the road. Incertainty filled the girl's mind when the lead soldier in the column spoke out in a metallic voice, with broken, accented Japanese. "Citizen! We are Americans, we are here to rebuild the former great nation of Japan, please, lie still with your face to the ground and you will not be harmed." The girl however, saw the high powered military grade weapons the soldiers were holding, things from Gatling guns, to Guass Rifles.

Hikari Horaki's eyes went wide, and fear screamed into her senses, telling her to turn and run. As she did so however, a group of voices yelling in English rang out behind her, telling her to stop. She tried to ignore their yells, and continued running, because for all she knew they were slavers. She ran with every essence of her body, pushing herself to her limit in order to escape a horrific demise. Just as the young former class-representative was about to round a corner, she felt as if her back was hit with a hammer, and a spray of red erupted from her chest, droplets of her own blood forming on her exposed neck and face.

Her legs gave way due to shock, and she fell to the ground, convulsing and shaking. On her hands and knee's, Hikari watched, as a stream of blood oozed from her body, forming a puddle on the ground. The Jacketed-Hollow-Point bullet had torn through her body effortlessly, shattering upon its impact with ribs, fragments of bone and metal punching a hole through her chest about the size of a baseball. A soldier, taking on the appearance of the devil himself, fully garbed in fusion-cell powered armor, ran up next to her body, and knelt beside her. There was a red cross on his helmet.

As the American soldier's hands went to work on Hikari Horaki, her consciousness gave way, and her eyes rolled upward as she slipped from reality.

In one of the buildings bordering the long highway, up about three stories, two boys, Touji Suzuhara, and Kensuke Aida, watched on in shocked silence, anger saturating the air around them. Touji, the stronger, taller, and more gung-ho of the two knelt down, his face twisting with rage while he brought his simple .22 pistol to bear. He fired off two shots, before Kensuke had tackled him to the ground, saving him just as the window he was firing out of exploded with the impact of over one hundred rounds. Unable to comprehend any sounds above the deafening roar of automatic weapons below, Kensuke simply dragged Touji towards the staircase, hoping to slip out unnoticed through the back. Touji didn't resist, and succumbed to sorrow.

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High above the drama unfolding in central Tokyo-3, Ritsuko Akagi watched, from atop a mountain observatory, the random, sporradic flashes of gunfire, and the rising smoke of battle, as the city threatened to completely consume all life. Slipping her glasses off, she brought her fingers to the bridge of her nose, shaking her head slowly as she reflected silently on the brutality of humanity. There is no way the human race can recover from this, she decided.

Although her attitude was pessimistic, she took the responsibility of her work without question, serving the former second-in-command of NERV, Kouzou Fuyutsuki in his attempt at unifying the five to six different major factions of rulers around the Tokyo-3 area. Also a priority was the recovery of the Evangelions, or at least a recreation. She knew deep down that the people she cared about were still out there, in the hell of Tokyo-3, avoiding the random and frequent gravitation signals they observed, and from mutated animals and humans. Oh and not to mention the weekly blowout.

She tapped her foot impatiently, the situation requiring Fuyutsuki's immediate attention. The experienced scientists had reported to him immediately upon recieving the 'under attack' signal from their partner coastal observation station. The message had detailed three to four large tanker class ships, unloading men and equipment some eighty miles east of Tokyo-3. Shortly thereafter, about five minutes later, the station reported heavy assault from unidentified, highly technological ground forces. Soon after that, communications were severed.

Ritsuko knew the drill well for a situation such as this, because she was the one who wrote such drills. Immediately upon recieving the signal, she had sent out ten of her best security soldiers into Tokyo-3 to hire mercenaries, using money still left to the observatories vault. The money left over from NERV bank accounts. It was safe to say that NERV wasn't destroyed, but moved, most of their assets transfered to Megami Observation Base. Moving frantically, knowing thousands of lives were in her hands, she called Commander Fuyutsuki, who was now on his way. Her thoughts of the aging man seemed to summon him, because he burst right through the door.

Nodding greetings, the two NERV officers walked over to a monitor, showing details of the foreign invader's landing site. Fuyutsuki took a quick look, and turned to his second in command, his voice a harsh whisper, not wishing to disturb the facility's small command staff. "Round up as many stalkers as you can from the Zone, and tell them to begin a search for former NERV employees, I know there's still quite a few gangs of our former security forces around Tokyo-3. Also give a description of Misato Katsuragi, she may be living down there somewhere. I know you've been wanting to go down there to round up the others but we just havent had the strength. The only reason we're doing it now is because we have no choice. Also, find Maya. I spoke with her a few weeks ago near NERV Central." Not waiting for a response, he quickly turned and moved on to the next manned computer station, bringing the establishment's perimiter weapons systems online.

Ritsuko frowned, glancing once again into Tokyo-3, her former home. "It was inevitable. sigh The Enclave..."

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The picture was slightly faded after two years. Shinji had kept the picture all this time, from the time he left NERV, to the time that he became a Stalker and joined up with Misato. It was the solitary momento he had from that time, that time that was so much easier, and more enjoyable than today. He missed it so much. Most painful however was the loss of Asuka. Thoughts of her were bitter and unmerciful. He knew he could have helped her, knew he could have saved her, but Misato and the others had restrained him. She was right there! Right there in front of him! He had seen her entry plug being thrown into the Geo-front's large central lake, and it would have been easy for him to bypass the SEELE Eva's and jump into it and carry her plug to safety.

Just as he was about to however, the entire world seemed to shake, as a large projectile, about the size of a train engine, streaked through the air, down into the massive gaping hole over the Geo-front. It struck the other side of the large expanse, then Shinji was completely blinded, and thrown into the wall of one side of the large cave, putting him out of any fight he might have posed.

From inside Central Dogma however, the JSSDF and NERV Soldiers could merely watch, helplessly, as the world destroyed itself on the large NERV monitors, until power was cut off completely, and gas lines ruptured, shutting down NERV's generators. Luckily, Misato had ejected Shinji's plug, and it escaped harm when the nuclear missiles struck Central Dogma, killing most of the occupants inside.

Tears came to his eyes, and he quickly shook his head to stem the flow of emotional trauma. Misato had tapped him on the shoulder to let him know they were nearing Block 20, a former Prison, now retro-fitted into a large fortress, impregnible to all but the most determined adversary. The entire Prison was surrounded by two, five-foot thick concrete walls, with a minefield inbetween the two. Watchtowers were placed sporadically behind the fence to watch out towards the still slightly intact Japanese wilderness, and towards the hazy, smoking ruins of Tokyo-3, where through almost all hours of the day sporadic gunfire, like the popping of corn could be heard, incessant and never-ending.

Approaching the Maingate of Block20, Misato and Shinji shouldered their weapons to indicate they had no hostile intent. They approached, side-by-side, until a voice yelled out from on top of one of the gate's two watchtowers, placed in a flanking position of the Iron cross bar gate. "Stop right there Stalkers! No sudden movements, Identify yourselves, and state your business!" Misato grinned, having been outside the social world of humans for too long. "I am Major Misato Katsuragi of NERV, and this is Private Shinji Ikari also of NERV. We need a few big strong boys like yourself, to help us out on a little foray into slaver country." The man who addressed them, the only one who didn't have his gun trained on the outsiders, leaned to his side and picked up a receiver mounted on the wall of the wooden watchtower, speaking quickly.

Shinji looked up to Misato from the corner of his eye. "Why did you tell them our real names?" The talled woman deliberately leaned into Shinji, showing that she was the authority in these parts. "Because no one forgot my name after the stories from before the war, our work on the angels." He nodded, seeing her logic.

A crash resounded throughout the wastes, echoing quietly off the giant structures in Tokyo-3's downtown area. The giant Titanium doors that served as Block 20's gate opened outward towards Shinji and Misato, inviting them in. The woman smiled, as the denizens of the prison watched wide-eyed as the two stalkers walked among their dwellings, making their way towards "The Hub", a bar and trading post that served travelers, merchants, and stalkers in and around Tokyo-3.

The Hub's legend had spread far and wide, all the way down to southern Japan. People came from far and wide to meet Butch Zero, the founder of The Hub. He was an American, come to Japan five years ago to start his own little bar with dreams of marrying a beautiful Japanese woman, and living his life out in relative peace, in the sort-of stable Japan.

A town in the United States in southern California after the war had changed its name to The Hub, after merchants had used it as a meeting point. Butch decided to name his bar The Hub in tribute. Dark alleyways, and long skinny streets were common to Block 20, and only the tell-tale pink neon glow of the bar's sign led them in the right direction. Shinji smiled when he saw the familiar building, he would never forget The Hub. It was here that Misato and Shinji had met up with fellow NERV personell who told them how to get back into the deadly Geo-Front. Every month, at least once they traveled here, and usually they could find JSSDF or NERV personell frequenting the establishment.

Unsurprisingly, upon opening the double oak front doors, immediately a bar fight spilled out into the streets, and Misato had to duck and weave her way into the bar. Spotting Butch behind the bar, Misato waved, and then dove to the ground as he fired salt-rock buckshot into the frenzied jumble of men. Shinji was leaning against the wall, watching with amusement as the men fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Butch spotted the two, and immediately threw his sawn-off shotgun down to the ground. "MISATO!!! SHINJI!!! My two favorite Stalkers this side of The Glow!! GET OVER HERE!!!!" His loud voice boomed over the stereo playing Led Zeppelin, and over all the hustle and bustle of drunken, armed men. With his arms spread wide, and a smile even wider, he invited them over to his humble bar with nary a word spoken.

The thing about Butch, is that his charisma is the type that infects those around him. As they approached, both Shinji and Misato couldn't help but grin at their gracious host. Leaning against the bar, Misato flashed him her famous heart-melting smile, and prepared to get all she needed out of Butch. He returned the smile with a small hug, very enjoyable for himself, not so with Misato.

"Hey there pretty lady, what's your poison?" Said pretty lady unclipped her helmet, and vest, setting them down onto the counter. "I need information and a few helping hands Butch, no bull-shit." The smile faded from his face, and he leaned closer. "Nothing's free around here you know that Major, I got expenses ya know?" Misato nodded, untying the pouch secured at her waist, and dumped out around fifty tabs. The big, red-haired man's eyes sparkled at the currency dumped on his counter, and was quick to respond. "Whatcha need to know, girly?" Misato's smirk quickly dissappeared as she sobered up and told him her needs.

We're looking for Raiders, possibly slavers that took a young girl, probably around sixteen I gather. Last I saw, she was wearing urban camo, NERV Tac helmet and a black vest, really high end stuff. Smart-ass, red hair... I'm sure you know the type (smile smile)." In turn, the bartender wiped his smile away as well, and leaned over the counter close to Misato. "Couple o' hours ago, some guys came in here. Bought fifteen STRONG bottles, I'm talkin' 50 alchohol and up, you know the raider's favorite. Now, these guys kept goin' on and on 'bout some young chick they picked up, dressed all in NERV issue gear, with a healthy dose of rads. I asked 'em what they were talkin' about and one of 'em was like, 'She's our saviour! The woman that Viper invisioned.' I'm sure you've heard of Viper right? She and her crew aren't people you wanna mess wit'. Get me?"

Misato slapped his cheek, lightly, playfully. "I can handle myself." She turned and began to walk away, suddenly turning back at Butch and commented, "Oh ya! I need about four mercs. Can you get that for me?" Rubbing the stubble on his chin thoughtfully, he grinned devilishly, "Shouldn't be a problem Major."

--------------------------------------------------

"Then you had to deal with loss and death Everybody thinking they know best Coping with this shit at such an age Can only fill a kid with pain and rage "

Dream Theater - "This Dying Soul"

A/N: Well so much for interest in writing... This chapter was nearly complete sometime in october, I just couldn't bring myself to finish it for some reason. I couldn't think of any way to continue, and subsequently this chapter, especially near the end seems a bit rushed. Sorry

Namikaze November 30, 2004


	4. The Vipers Preview

Disclaimer: I own neither Evangelion or Stalker - Shadow of Chernobyl. They are both products of their respective creators, Gainax, and GSC.

-Dedicated to 'Neon Genesis Evangelion', the 'Fallout' series, and 'Stalker - Oblivion Lost'

PREVIEW OF CHAPTER FOUR

Chapter four of Evangelion: Oblivion Lost

"The Vipers"

It hurt so bad. The pain was unbearable. It didn't hurt in the traditional 'ow my hand' sense, it was far more subconscious. She couldn't remember the last time she saw a human-being smile, couldn't remember a time that she herself was happy. Fully in the grip of a strong phychadelic, Asuka was struggling to control her emotions, and the distortions she was witnessing.

Her body felt as if it were on fire, however, she still felt like she needed to stay under the blanket she had found under the thin metal bed she was deposited onto. Waves of pleasure would erupt throughout her body. She would smile, and flowers would start growing through cracks in the concrete floor of her tiny prison. As far as she could tell there were no actual existing windows in the room, and she knew her fate lie with her captors.

The waves of euphoria would quickly give way to abject horror. There was nothing tangible to explain the sudden shifts in her phyche, and it took all of her will to stay in control of herself as she watched the flowers melt away into colorful puddles on the floor. Things went on like this, a veritable roller coaster of euphoria, and complete dispair cycling back and forth.

There was a light growing in the corner of her room, and she watched, as this tiny beam of light expanded, and started to take on shape. It twisted and grew, until it reached the floor, making itself fully six feet tall. The light began to fade, and Asuka lent forward to try and bring the image of a person into focus.

It was a woman, no doubt about it. She was definately taller than Asuka, with long blonde hair that went down to her waste. Her face was a mire of mispraportion, but her beauty never the less was undeniable. She came completely into the realm of the living with the disappearance of the light. The woman walked towards Asuka, as Angels and Demons clawed at her heals, terrible creatures of light and dark followed her as if she was the bane of their existance, however there was nothing they could do about it except follow.

The young girl spasmed, and red hair fell over her face creating a light veil giving Asuka a false sense of security while she shook uncontrollably out of fear. Her voice wouldn't allow her to give release to her terror, and just when she felt like nothing could be worse than being in existance in her current situation, the ethereal woman stopped about two feet from Asuka's bed. She kept staring at the wall, right next to Asuka so close she could reach out and touch the silky, shimmering white gown she wore.

What Asuka didn't realize because of the hallucinogenic in her system is that this woman was actually a young man of 17. He had joined the Vipers a year and a half ago when his parents were actually killed in one of their raids on one of the many nameless communities dotting the countryside outside of the Tokyo-3 metropolitan area.

She watched as the 'woman' began to speak. She was speaking japanese, a language that was completely familiar to her, yet she couldn't bring herself to concentrate, and understand the actual words.

"Mistress, I humbly bring greetings to you from the leader of the Vipers. Our Lady would like to see you once your divine journey is complete. You will be fed within the next hour, it is suggested that you do so as your body will be quite run down by then. I wish you luck, and rest assured you have my envy. A holy journey such as the one you're undertaking right now I could only hope to attain in my lifetime service of the Vipers. I wish you luck."

With that the boy turned towards the door, and Asuka watched as finally the visage of a young woman dissappeared and she saw clearly for once. It felt as if all the drug had dissipated as quickly as it came and she rushed to try yelling out to get the boy's attention. Words wouldn't come out of her mouth though, and she struggled to make some sound... ANY sound.

She watched helplessly as the large metal door closed with a shattering bang, and settled into dispair as darkness settled into her cell. She sunk deeper into herself as she noticed the distortions, and demons subtley moving in the shadows... worsening her ordeal.

* * *

Nearly thirty miles away, inside of Block 20, Shinji and Misato were trying to find information on the Vipers from the bar-goers in the city.

Misato had just downed her fourth shot, Shinji had just downed his fourth Orange Juice. "SEE! I told you I could drink more orange juice than you could drink shots!" The young boy nudged Misato in the arm, then realized his mistake as Misato leaned precariously to her left almost falling out of her chair had Shinji not grabbed her arm to pull her back up. The NERV Major turned to Shinji then, trying unsuccesfully trying to wink. "Hey Shinshi, don forget fat I already downed like... ummmm, THREE BEERS!! Ya, thats what I was saying... THREE BEERS! Even before I got to the shots... Wait, what was I talking about?"

Shinji reflected upon what brought them to the barside, remembering that they were SUPPOSED to be questioning mercs about the Vipers, and he realized that Misato and him hadn't been back in the thralls of civilization in more than five weeks. It was about time they took about a day off from their tireless work in the Zone.

His eyes wandered as Misato got distracted and leaned over to the bar denizen next to her to hit on him. He was looking at Misato's midsection, and chest, not realizing that he was doing so until she turned around and nearly discovered him. He quickly made a show of looking on the ground for bottle caps he pretended to drop. She laughed and said "Shinji its ok!" Noticing the dark crimson that crossed his face. "You're reaching a stage of development in a boy's life when.." Shinji cut her off by reaching his hand to her face and covering her mouth. "MISATO I don't need another primer on the birds and the bees! GOD!"

* * *

And so, life goes on in the Zone. Stay tuned for more updates coming soon.

A/N: Its been a while since I started writing again, please give me some time to work out the cobwebs. So if this chapter is less than stellar (pshh duh) believe it will get better as I warm up more. This chapter is to let you know of my intention to continue.

Don't worry, although Shinji IS reaching a delicate stage of development, this wont be a ShinjiXMisato fic shudder thats kinda wierd.

IM GOING TO EXPLAIN A BUNCH OF STUFF THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH FIC-WRITING SO IF YOU'RE NOT INTERESTED IN MY LITTLE RANT THEN BY ALL MEANS STOP READING!

To all of the people who submitted reviews four years ago, and also all other readers. In the past four years that I havent been writing Evangelion: Oblivion Lost, I have gone through some serious changes. I've gone from an amatuer 17 year old, still living with his parents, to a 21 year old man, living on his own with his fiance. I have enjoyed many laughs, Ive had my heart broken, Ive made irreversible, terrible mistakes. I've tried LSD, Phychedelic Mushrooms, and marijuana. I've lost friends, made new ones, re-met old ones. Ive fought addiction, and won. Ive watched others suffering from addiction, seen them lose to it, and defeat it as well.

I guess in saying this to a bunch of people that I dont even know, I am reaching the end of half a decade of transformation.

I also suppose that the Evangelion: Oblivion Lost that you read four years ago, is going to take on a drastic change in writing style, and subject content. I aim to make the story more realistic, and very phychological as I deal with my own demons through my passion for writing. I love the depth, and introspective that Evangelion's characters display, and what's more is the subtlety that Hideaki Anno used to show that depth, and personality, and I wish that some day I can display such talent at creating believable characters, with engaging, human-like qualities.

I plan to continue writing my story, and this story will be used for me to express myself as I struggle to stay afloat, searching for a stable job, and trying to attain higher education.

I hope you all continue to read my stories, and I hope that you enjoy them! Please, PLEASE provide constructive criticism, as I'm sure it's needed. I also hope that you will be satisified with my new writing style, because the main thing I wish to gain from writing is the knowledge that I brought enjoyment to SOMEone out there.

Stay tuned for another EOL update/chapter!

-Namikaze

I also want everyone to rest assured that I WILL update 'EOL' much more frequently than every 4 years!


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